The Passionate Project: Never say you can’t find a great female creative to work with again

March 16, 2017

Finding great talent to work on your campaign or project can be daunting. Word of mouth is not always reliable. You can post an ad – but there are many reasons why you might not want to.

TBWA art director, Ariana De Luca, decided to solve the problem by setting up a female driven creative community, The Passionate Project, that gives female creatives access to others across all categories in their local neighbourhood.

“There’s a lot of freelance work available, but it’s just a matter of finding the right opportunities and knowing the right people,” De Luca stated.

“I want to highlight all the beautiful, talented and amazing women and create a community of creativity and female support.”

The Stable interviewed Ariana De Luca to find out more.

The Stable: Where did the idea come from?

De Luca: This idea came from my own personal experience. As an art director, I’m always looking to grow my own personal portfolio. I wanted to create a new project on my own and as I was looking for a photographer to work with I ran into a wall I believe many younger creatives encounter.

Who should I hire as a photographer and what type of budget can I actually afford? I wanted the photography to be gorgeous, but I also knew I didn’t have a large budget to spend on hiring a photographer.

I started to post ads on different forums such as Craigslist to see if any photographers were willing to collaborate. I received numerous responses but quickly realised how uncomfortable I felt meeting up with these photographers, especially since most of them were men. My inner stranger danger warning was telling me this was not a safe idea. During this process I thought, “How great would it be if there was a platform for female creatives to find other female creative to help each other collaborate on creative projects?”

At that point I decided to create it myself.

I think it’s an issue that so many 30 and under female creatives encounter. As we grow in our careers our own network and budgets for personal projects remains fairly small. This is why I created the platform. I wanted to create a space where female creatives could meet other female creatives in their city and then decide to work on a project together. Each collaborator or partner can add the final project to their portfolios. When all these talented women come together to help each other, the combined talent can take that project to the next level. This platform aims to help female creatives build a larger network, make friends, and help grow their personal portfolios.

The Stable: What makes The Passionate Project stand out?

De Luca: There’s a lot of freelance work available, but it’s just a matter of finding the right opportunities and knowing the right people. Whenever I freelance, I’ve found the opportunity through a job board, a friend, or word of mouth. And unlike freelance job boards that take a cut of the assignment or charge a fee – this is a free service.

The Stable: Your guidelines are absolutely wonderful…how did they get created?

De Luca: Thank you so much! I complied the guidelines myself and they speak to my own personal morals and standards. I created this project by myself (with the help of a female photographer who did all the photography) and infused my own values into it. My favourite personal quote is “work hard and be kind to others.”

I wanted to create a platform where my own personal values could carry on and I could help other people achieve their goals. Supporting other women and helping people grow is very important to me. I wanted to create this platform for like-minded creative, incredible women to come together and help each other grow creatively. The guidelines are a manifesto of how the platform should work, women helping other women through kindness, inspiration, support, and honesty.

The Stable: Do you intend to expand the idea outside the US?

De Luca: I would absolutely love to expand outside the US. The site was recently launched and as it continues to grow and develop, I would love to eventually expand it to other geographies. I think it’s a tool that’s helpful for all female creatives.

The Stable: Please explain how The Passionate Project works?

De Luca: Right now, I am really focusing on growing the network and database of female creatives. Everything is completely free. Once you join, I invite you to the private message board to start communicating with artists in your city.

Conversations are organised by different creative fields. For instance, if you click “photographer” you will see the message board full of people who are photographers or people who are looking for photographers to work with. You can post your work and your availability or you can post about a project for which you need a photographer for.

I am also featuring artists through my social media accounts. I think featuring female creatives is very important. It’s important to give these women exposure and get their artwork out to a larger audience. I want to highlight all the beautiful, talented and amazing women using the platform and create a community of creativity and female support. Apart from editorial PR, I am also starting to run some small budget social media campaigns. Growing a large audience is very important to me, I want to try to spread the word about this as much as possible to help other female creatives as much as possible.